“That’s a terrific idea.” She agrees.
Keiran rolls up the bottom of his pants, rolls his sleeves and untucks his shirt. Looking at her he asks, “Are you ready?”
Laughing she replies, “I’ve been ready, just waiting on you.”
He smiles, takes her by the hand and leads her out of the cabana towards the water.
They walk easily side-by-side, no longer holding hands, ankle deep in water, Kathryn begins cautiously, “Let’s see, I was born and raised in a small town in Tennessee.”
“Tennessee to Dubai, now that’s quite a leap.” he states.
“No, Tennessee to Massachusetts.” she smiles.
“Oh! That’s right. I remember, sorry, go ahead.”
“I lived with my parents until I graduated from high school in a small rural town in Tennessee. I only applied to a few colleges, focusing on ones in big cities. I always felt the need to escape the small town and now that I am older I have a whole other appreciation for what they can offer.”
“Do your parents still live there?”
“Yes, my parents and my older sister, Kera, her husband, David, and their two daughters, Kennedy who is 18, and Kendall who just turned 20.”
“Kathryn, Kera, Kennedy, and Kendall? That’s a lot of K’s!” He notices laughing.
Smiling she responds, “You picked up on that huh? My mom gave Kera and me both the middle name of Marie so when Kera had daughters she kept the Ks and Marie going.”
“Interesting but I like all of the names.”
“Thanks, we like them too.”
“Did you graduate from college?”
“Yes, I have a Masters in applied Linguistics from Boston University, which is where I met my husband.”
Keiran bristles at the word “husband” and sucks in a sharp breath, “I didn’t think you were married.”
“I’m not.” she said sadly. Continuing, “We met during our first year at Boston U, he was from the Boston area, and as I said, I was from small town USA.”, pausing she focuses on the gentle waves lapping at her feet to quietly calm her nerves, then continues, “Alexander and I fell in love, spent six wonderful years at Boston U, got married at twenty-two, bought a cute little bungalow in downtown Boston and began our lives living the American dream. We were best friends and had the best time together. After three years we began trying to have a baby. We tried everything, I was tested for everything under the sun, he was tested, still nothing. It was gut wrenching to spend year after year hoping and praying this would be the year. Finally after nearly eight years and several in vitro fertilization attempts the doctor called to say that we had three viable, perfect little embryos. Still, we kept our excitement in check because we had had a total of six other embryos implanted on three separate occasions and none of them lasted beyond two weeks, I lost them all. I felt like a failure and it was beginning to take its toll.” she pauses fidgeting with her bracelets, “We decided that if it didn’t work this time we wouldn’t try anymore and we would look into adoption.” Another deep breath that tore at Keiran’s heart, “The procedure did take this time, and we learned in December of ninety-four, that we were indeed pregnant with all three.” Taking a deep breath and dabbing at tears with her fingers trying to keep them at bay, “I was six weeks pregnant by then and we finally felt like the world was ours. We had the best Christmas ever!” she said looking up at Keiran, smiling through her tears which just melts his heart as he resists the urge to pull her to him and hold her, hold her forever he thought, but he had to know the rest, he had to urge her to continue so he said, “go on” in a very soft voice.
“And then on a horrible day in February of ninety-five, while trying to get home during one of the worst snow storms in Boston area history, Alexander lost control of his car on I-90. He was a little banged up but okay, I know because he called me and then he got very tense, said I love you and to make sure our children know how much he loved and wanted them.” trying desperately to keep from bawling like a baby she stops talking for several minutes, kicks at the water, takes several deep breaths, and Keiran takes off his shirt so that she can dab her eyes and nose. He takes her hand, grateful and squeezing as if trying to hang on for dear life, she continues, “loved, he had said loved, and immediately I knew something was terribly wrong I just wouldn’t find out how wrong until the police knocked on my door three hours later. Upon hearing them say it aloud I collapsed into shock and my doctor was summoned.” Another deep breath, “Alexander was gone. Although he lived through his own vehicle careening out of control, he did not stand any chance at all when the semi truck lost control and plowed directly into him. He saw it coming and could not do a damn thing about it, he knew he was about to die which must have been so awful for him.” she sobbed, “the police told me that his leg was pinned from his accident so he sat there and faced death head on.” Racked with heaving sobs she hangs her head, shoulders shaking violently.
“Oh my God, Kathryn!” Keiran said stopping and pulling her into his arms, “I am so, so sorry. What a devastating loss for you.” He holds her tight, wrapping her in his strong embrace, stroking her hair, “Shhhh, it’s okay now Kathryn, I’m here, shhh” he soothes. He holds her for about five minutes or so as she regains her composure, she pulls away, wipes her face and looks up apologetically at Keiran saying, “I’m sorry Keiran that was such a difficult part of my past that I haven’t shared with others in detail so I have never become comfortable talking about it. Usually when people inquire I just tell them Alex passed away and move on.”
He pulls her back into his arms and whispers, “Shhh, no apologies are ever necessary with me. I especially understand how painful it is to lose someone.” And then realizing that last statement would focus the discussion on him instead of her, and he wanted to learn everything about her first, he tries to bring some levity to the discussion changing the subject by mentioning her children, “So your children are twelve years old now, right?”
She smiles lightly, pulls out of the embrace and continues walking, “Yes, they were born without complications a few weeks early in June of ninety-five. They are nearly thirteen and are the loves of my life. I gave all three of them the middle name of Alexander after their father. Their names are Brady, Aiden, and Dylan, which were names on the short list before Alex passed. They are spending the night tonight with a friend. She takes a deep breath and continues, “Basically for the past decade, I have lived the same life year after year. Every time I would think about moving away his parents would make me feel extremely guilty. Finally, about a year ago I decided to go for it, to do the things that I wanted to and to stop not doing things just because I was afraid of what people would think. A friend in Boston told me that the Sheik of Dubai was looking for a translator to help in his business dealings. Of course, the Sheik is very talented with languages as well, but sometimes I think it’s better for him for people to assume that he is only fluent in Arabic and English. So I travel the world with him when necessary and handle the communications for his companies.”
“Which languages do you speak, Kathryn?”
“Fluently I speak Arabic, French, German, Russian, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. Conversationally I can get by with Vietnamese, and I’m currently studying Mandarin. Oh, and of course English.” She said with a smile.
“Wow, that’s quite impressive” he said nodding.
Suddenly self conscience, she blushes and says, “I’m not trying to brag by any means, I was simply answering your question.”
He takes her hand, stops and turns towards her and tilts her head up by placing his index finger under her chin and as he leans in to kiss her he whispers, “I didn’t think you were darling.” Very unsure at first she slowly responds and then she reaches up placing her hand on the nape of his neck. The kisses start out as tender whispers, getting more and more fervent with each passing moment, finally their lips part and their tongues